STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING | COMPLETE STREET DESIGN

The State Street Undercrossing project transformed Santa Barbara's historically overlooked arterial corridors into a safe, vibrant, and multimodal gateway. Tasked with revitalizing the underpass connecting Downtown to the Waterfront and Funk Zone, we approached this project with a vision that blended safety, functionality, and aesthetics, aligned with the City’s Vision Zero goals. The Bengal Engineering team led the redesign of the corridor, replacing outdated infrastructure with a streamlined configuration that prioritized pedestrians and cyclists over vehicles. Sidewalks were widened from 8 to 15-feet, while bike lanes were expanded and buffered from traffic to minimize conflicts. Vehicle lanes were restructured to one lane in each direction with a center median, improving flow and reducing driver speeds. The project also included intersection improvements at Gutierrez and Yanonali Streets, introducing upgraded curb ramps, shorter crossings, and improved ADA accessibility.

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Working closely with the city’s street maintenance crews, contractors, and local architect Jeff Shelton, we ensured that function met form. The design team integrated Santa Barbara’s signature visual aesthetic into the undercrossing, including tile-clad bridge columns, decorative ironwork, and colorful railings, all meticulously engineered for durability in a highly trafficked environment. Landscape and lighting upgrades were designed to enhance nighttime visibility and pedestrian comfort, while maintaining aesthetic continuity between downtown and the waterfront. The city workforce, contractors, and engineers coordinated complex phasing strategies that maintained traffic, pedestrian access, and business continuity throughout the 18-month construction timeline. Construction broke ground in September 2023 and completed construction in June 2025.